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Fuji develops patent case
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February 13, 1998: 3:33 p.m. ET
Film maker says 28 firms infringed patents for its one-time-use cameras
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Fuji Photo Film USA, Inc. said Friday its Tokyo-based parent company, Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd., has filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission charging 28 companies with patent infringement on its one-time-use cameras.
The complaint charges infringement of 15 of Fuji Film's U.S. patents for one-time-use cameras. It says the companies flouted the patents by either manufacturing one-time-use cameras or reloading film into used Fujifilm shells before importing the finished products into the U.S.
The ITC filing names 16 other entities that Fuji Film believes are in violation of the patents but for which "proof of infringing importation into the United States is not complete." The complaint, among other things, seeks permanent cease-and-desist orders barring the listed companies from further infringement violations.
Fuji Photo said it filed the complaint "to protect both its patent rights and the one-time-use camera market in the United States." The company also asserts that the remanufactured cameras are generally of inferior quality to its own product.
"The resulting customer dissatisfaction injures not only Fujifilm but the entire legitimate one-time-use camera market."
Eastman Kodak Co., the world's largest maker of photographic film, sided with its arch-rival in the patent infringement complaint. Kodak is a licensee of Fujifilm's one-time-use camera patents.
"Kodak supports Fuji's efforts to defend its legitimate patent rights with respect to the activities of companies that manufacture, 'reload', or distribute one-time-use cameras for sale in the U.S. or any other country," Robert Keegan, president of Kodak's consumer imaging unit, said Friday.
One-time-use, or disposable, cameras were first introduced by Fuji in Japan in 1986 and made their U.S. debut a year later, under the brand name Fujicolor Quicksnap.
--By staff and wire reports
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